The present invention relates to systems and methods of providing electronic fishing information and, more particularly, to systems and methods of providing an angler rating for at least one angler.
According to many reports today, more people participate in recreational fishing in the United States than in golf and tennis combined. And even the best anglers often have difficulty finding and catching the fish they are pursuing. In an attempt to improve their knowledge of where fish might be, and to generally increase the quality and success of their fishing experience, more and more anglers are using state-of-the-art technology, such as global positioning satellites and sonar technology, to help them map out and view the contents of the waters they are fishing. In addition, feeding habits and seasonal movement patterns are being studied to better understand the fish and their habits.
To determine where fish will be and the likelihood of a fish striking at any given time, a multitude of variables must be analyzed. Among these variables, anglers must consider location, weather conditions, water temperature, time of year, techniques and equipment used. Because of the complexity of the interactions of the variables, however, considering the multitude of variables is generally far too complex for the human brain to accurately process and understand. In this regard, anglers could spend a lifetime in their local waters alone trying to determine how the interactions between these variables impact their ability to predict the best methods and timing for catching fish.
To assist anglers in analyzing many of the variables, anglers have long kept fishing journals that include the variables for each fishing trip the angler took. While these fishing journals assisted the angler somewhat in increasing the angler""s chance of success, journals kept by individual anglers are inherently limiting in that such journals only contain entries for each angler. In this regard, anglers often have very limited information as to variations of the variables sufficient enough to formulate an adequate determination of the likelihood of a fish striking at any given time. In addition, as weather is a variable that tends to affect the habits of fish, adequately documenting a fishing trip in a journal requires anglers to document the weather during each fishing trip or while catching each fish. But due to the faulty memories of many anglers and inconsistencies in documenting weather, adequate documentation of weather is often difficult to keep. Therefore, it would be desirable to develop a system that integrates the journals of a plurality of anglers and provides a uniform method by which weather during a fishing trip can be determined and documented.
In addition to fishing for recreation, many anglers enhance their fishing experience by fishing for sport by comparing their fishing experience and ability against other anglers, such as by participating in competitions such as fishing tournaments where the anglers compete against one another. This comparison is often adequate to allow anglers of similar experience and ability to compete against one another. But due to the complexity of the variables used to increase the likelihood of catching fish, experienced anglers are often at an unfair advantage with respect to less experienced anglers. Thus, it would be desirable to further develop an angler rating to handicap more experienced anglers and even the field of competition among various anglers.
In light of the foregoing background, the present invention provides systems, methods and computer program products for determining at least one angler rating for at least one angler. The systems, methods and computer program products of the present invention enhance the fishing experience of anglers by providing a method by which anglers can compare themselves to their peers with a more even comparison that accounts for their relative fishing experience and ability. In this regard, the angler ratings serve to handicap more experienced anglers and even the field of competition among various anglers when drawing comparisons among the anglers.
According to one embodiment, a system for determining at least one angler rating for at least one angler includes a processing element and an output element. The processing element is capable of receiving fishing information, where the fishing information is associated with at least one lake. And based on at least a portion of the fishing information, the processing element can determine the angler ratings for the anglers. In another embodiment, the system further includes at least one electronic database, which is responsive to the processing element. And in a further embodiment, the electronic databases communicate with the processing element across a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet. The electronic databases can store the electronic fishing information based upon the fishing information received by the processing element. Also, the electronic databases are capable of storing the angler ratings. The output element, which is also responsive to the processing element, is capable of outputting the angler ratings, such as a graphical user interface displaying the angler ratings.
In operation, the angler ratings are formed by first providing the fishing information. Next, angler ratings are determined and then output, such as by the output element. In a further embodiment, the angler ratings are determined by first determining at least one trip point value for at least one fishing trip. Then, at least one score is calculated based upon the trip point values determined and at least one standard value for at least one lake associated with the at least one fishing trip on at least one lake, such as by subtracting the standard value for a respective lake from the trip point value for a fishing trip at the respective lake. In one embodiment, the trip point values are determined such that each trip point value is bounded by an upper limit and a lower limit. In another embodiment, the standard values are established before calculating the scores, such as by setting the at least one standard value equal to a predetermined percentile of a distribution of a plurality of trip point values for the respective lakes. Next, the angler ratings are determined based upon the at least one score and a number of fishing trips.
In a further embodiment, the trip point values are determined by calculating at least one fish size index for at least one fish based upon a weight and a length point value for the at least one fish, such as by multiplying the weight by a length point value. In this regard, the length point value is based upon at least one length of the fish and a world record length of at least one species of the fish. Then, the at least one quality per length class is determined based upon the fish size indexes and a number of the fish in a given length class, such as by multiplying a number of the fish in a given length class by the fish size indexes.
After the quality per length classes are determined, at least one quality per target species is computed based upon the at least one quality per length class and a number of length classes of fish targeted. When a group of species are targeted, the computing is further based upon a number of fish of a species targeted in the group. For example, the quality per target species can be computed by aggregating each quality per length class over a number of length classes of fish targeted and, when a group of species are targeted, by further aggregating the aggregate quality per length classes over a number of species targeted in the group. In a further embodiment, quality per target species are computed for each fish harvested and each fish released for each fishing trip.
Once the quality per target species are calculated, trip point values are determined based upon the at least one quality per target species and a trip length. For example, the trip point values can be determined by taking the square root of the sum of the quality per target species for the fish harvested and the fish released divided by the trip length. In another embodiment, the trip point values are determined based upon at least one predetermined weighting of the at least one quality per target species fish released, such as a sport fish predetermined weighting and a food fish predetermined weighting.
The systems, methods and computer program products of the present invention enhance the fishing experience of anglers by forming angler ratings. The angler ratings, in turn, handicap more experienced anglers and even the field of competition among various anglers when drawing comparisons among the anglers.